Elsa Gidlow
| birth_place = Hull, Yorkshire, England | death_date = June | death_place = Mill Valley, California, United States | occupation = Poet, author, editor, journalist, political activist, philosopher | education = self-educated | citizenship = American | period = 1917–1986 | partner = Isabel Grenfell Quallo (1945–1964) "Tommy" Violet Henry-Anderson (1924–1935†) Muriel Symington (1922) | genre = Love poetry, essays, autobiography | subject = Love, beauty, politics, protest, mysticism, nature | movement = Lesbian literature Feminist literature | notableworks = On A Grey Thread (1923) Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986) | influences = Buddhism, Edward Carpenter, Radclyffe Hall, Roswell George Mills, Goddess worship, Sappho, Taoism, Wicca, Oscar Wilde | influenced = | relatives = Thea (sister) }} Elsa Gidlow (December 29, 1898 - June 8, 1986) was a British-born, Canadian-American poet, freelance journalist, and philosopher. Life Overview Gibbons is best known for writing On A Grey Thread (1923), possibly the 1st volume of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America.Rexroth, Kenneth (1978). "Elsa Gidlow's Sapphic Songs". American Poetry Review. 7 (1), 20. In 1954, Gidlow helped found Druid Heights, a bohemian community in Marin County, California.Oldenburg, Chuck (2012). "Druid Heights". The Mill Valley Historical Society. She was the author of 13 books, and appeared as herself in the documentary film, Word Is Out: Stories of some of our lives]] (1977).Holt, Patricia (22 June 1986). "Search for the Independent Mind". San Francisco Chronicle, 1.Atwell, Lee (Winter, 1978–1979). "Word Is out and Gay U. S. A." Film Quarterly. University of California Press. 32 (2), 50–57. Completed just before her death, her book Elsa, I Come with My Songs (1986), became the first published lesbian autobiography.West, Celeste (1986). "In Memoriam: Elsa Gidlow". Feminist Studies. 12 (3), 614. Youth Gidlow was born Elfie Alice Gidlow in Hull, Yorkshire, England.Gidlow 1986, p. 1. Sometime around 1904, the Gidlow family emigrated to Tétreaultville, Quebec, Canada. At the age of 15, Elsa and her family moved to Montreal. Career Gidlow began working as an assistant to her father who was a safety promoter for the Canadian Railroad. He later used his contacts with a factory doctor in Montreal and young Elsa soon became the assistant editor of Factory Facts, an in-house magazine.Elsa, I Come with My Songs: The Autobiography of Elsa Gidlow (San Francisco: Druid Heights Press, 1986, p.104-106) In 1917, she began seeking out fellow writers and meeting with them, particularly in the field of amateur journalism, which was popular at the time. With collaborator Roswell George Mills, Gidlow published Les Mouches Fantastiques, the earliest magazine which featured gay topics and poetry, among other subjects, in North America.Michael Lyons, "Canada's First Gay Publication," Daily Xtra, February 22, 2015. Web, June 22, 2015. H.P. Lovecraft, a fellow amateur journalist, attacked their work, leading Gidlow to defend it and attack back in return; the dispute created a minor controversy in the then burgeoning amateur press, bringing Gidlow and Mills public, albeit negative, attention.Faig, Ken. (July 2006). "Lavender Ajays of the Red-Scare Period: 1917–1920". The Fossil. 102 (4), 5–17. She moved to New York in 1920 at the age of 21. There she was employed by Frank Harris of Pearson's, a magazine supportive of poets and unsympathetic to the war and England.Elsa, I Come with My Songs: The Autobiography of Elsa Gidlow (San Francisco: Druid Heights Press, 1986, p. 130. Later, in 1926, she moved to San Francisco, and continued to live, write and love in the San Francisco Bay Area for the rest of her life. In the 1940s, she lived in Fairfax, California, where she became active in local politics. Due to her membership in political and writers' groups allegedly affiliated with communists, she was suspected of being "Un-American" and was subsequently investigated, subpoenaed and forced to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947. HUAC's final report accused her of being affiliated with communist front organizations.California Legislature (1948). "Fairfax Investigation and Hearing. Fourth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, 1948: Communist Front Organizations. However, as a philosophical anarchist Gidlow was ideologically opposed to communism, and she denied the accusation.Sapphic Songs: Eighteen to Eighty (1982) Patricia Holt of the San Francisco Chronicle writes: :It amused Gidlow that such "radical" ideas set her up for a witch hunt in Fairfax, where she had moved in her 40s. Their charges that Gidlow was a "red," as Stanton Delaplane reported in The Chronicle, were "Washed Pink at Fairfax Hearings." But Gidlow, who lived with a woman of African descent and often made dinner for the Chans from San Francisco, was later accused of "living with a colored woman and frequently entertaining Chinese people.... This was damning evidence that I could not be a loyal American." In 1954, she purchased a ranch with Roger Somers and his family above Muir Woods on the southwest flank of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California.Davis, Erik (May 2005). "Druids and Ferries". Arthur. 16. Gidlow named the mountain ranch "Druid Heights", a nod to her friend, Irish poet Ella Young.Killion, Tom; Snyder, Gary (2009). Tamalpais Walking: Poetry, History, and Prints. Heyday. ISBN 9781597140973. pp. 104–105. Gidlow and her partner Isabel Grenfell Quallo lived together for a decade at Druid Heights, along with notable residents, including her close friend Alan Watts and feminist theorist Catharine MacKinnon. Along with Watts, she co-founded the Society for Comparative Philosophy (SCP) which hosted many seminars, talks and "happenings" while also sponsoring the retreat of many famous personages on its properties.Aptheker, Bettina (1989). Tapestries of Life: Women's Work, Women's Consciousness, and the Meaning of Daily Experience. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0870236598. pp. 96–98. Gidlow socialized with many famous artists, radical thinkers, mystics, and political activists at Druid Heights, including Ansel Adams, Gary Snyder, Dizzy Gillespie, Neil Young, Tom Robbins, and Margo St. James. The houseboat "Vallejo", one of the SCP's properties, housed Alan Watts and the artist Varda, and later hosted seminars by Al Huang, John Blofeld, Sunyata, Charlotte Selver, Dr. June Singer, and others. This vessel was an active part of the Druid Heights scene from its purchase by the SCP in 1962 until the early 1980s. Her autobiography, Elsa, I Come with My Songs: The autobiography of Elsa Gidlow gives a personal and detailed account of her life seeking, finding, and creating a life with other lesbians at a time when little was recorded on the topic. Death Towards the last years of her life, Gidlow experienced several strokes. She chose not to seek medical care in a hospital and died at home in Druid Heights at the age of 87.Associated Press (11 June 1986). "Poet Elsa Gidlow Dies at Age 88 [sic]". Merced Sun-Star. Gidlow was cremated and her ashes were mixed with rice and buried beneath an apple tree in Druid Heights. Publications Poetry * On A Grey Thread. Chicago: W. Ransome, 1923. * California Valley with Girls, and other poems. San Francisco: privately published, 1932. * From Alba Hill: A mountain interlude. San Francisco: 1933. *''Bridge Builders''. San Francisco: 1938. * Wild Swan Singing. Valley, CA?: privately published, 1954. * Letters from Limbo (with Ella Young). Valley, CA?: privaately published, 1956. * Moods of Eros, and other poems. Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1972. * Makings for Meditation: A collection of parapoems reverent and irreverent. Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1973. * Sapphic Songs: Seventeen to Seventy. Baltimore: Diana Press, 1976. *''Shattering the Mirror'' (illustrated & with calligraphy by Kathleen Roberts). . Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1976. * Sapphic Songs: Eighteen to Eighty. Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1982. Play * Wise Man's Gold: A drama in rhythm (verse drama). Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1974. Non-fiction * Ask No Man Pardon: The philosophic significance of being lesbian. Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1975. * Elsa, I Come With My Songs: The autobiography of Elsa Gidlow. San Francisco: Booklegger Press, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Elsa Gidlow, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 22, 2015. Poems by Elsa Gidlow #Never Any Fear See also *List of U.S. poets References *Brown, Patricia Leigh (25 January 2012). "Oasis for Resisting Status Symbols Just Might Get One, New York Times, A15. *Harvey, Andrew (1997). The Esesential Gay Mystics. HarperCollins. ISBN 0062509055. *Kennedy, Kathleen; Ullman, Sharon Rena. (2003). Sexual Borderlands: Constructing an American sexual past. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0814209270. *Samek, Toni; Lang, Moyra; Roberto, K.R. (2010). She Was a Booklegger: Remembering Celeste West. Library Juice Press. ISBN 978-0-9802004-9-2. *Watts, Alan (1972). In My Own Way: An autobiography, 1915–1965. New World Library. ISBN 1577315847. Notes External links ;Poems *Elsie A. Gidlow in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "At the Top of the World," "Never Any Fear" *Elsa Gidlow 1898-1986 at Isle of Lesbos (4 poems) *Elsa Gidlow at AllPoetry (6 poems) ;Audio / video *Elsa Gidlow poems at YouTube ;Books *Elsa Gidlow at Amazon.com ;About *Gidlow, Elsa at Canada's Early Women Writers *Gidlow, Elsa (1898-1986) at GBLTQ Encyclopedia *"Elsa Gidlow: Poet-warrior" at Wild Hearts Ranch *"Elsa Gidlow and Her Kind" at Xtra *"Canada's first gay publication" at the Xtra *Elsa Gidlow at Internet Movie Database ;Etc. *Guide to the Elsa Gidlow Papers, 1898–1986 (bulk dates 1920–1986) Category:1898 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Lesbian feminists Category:People from Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Category:Writers from Kingston upon Hull Category:People from Marin County, California Category:American women's rights activists Category:LGBT writers from England Category:LGBT writers from Canada Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:Lesbian writers Category:American women poets Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:Canadian women poets Category:Writers from Montreal Category:LGBT poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:20th-century American poets Category:20th-century authors Category:20th-century poets Category:American authors Category:American poets Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets